Tribune Exclusive
Chandigarh airport can take off now
Jangveer Singh
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 7

Quote:

Things have finally fallen in place for the start of construction of the Chandigarh International Airport with the Punjab government today receiving Rs 230.43 crore from Haryana as part of the latter’s share towards land acquisition for the project.

In another related development, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) has given sanction for the construction of the boundary wall of the airport, which will cover an area of 306 acres. According to the letter received from the AAI, the construction will start straight away after floating of tenders for the project. The AAI is likely to spend Rs 550 crore on the construction of various facilities, including the main terminal, at the airport.

The process of the formation of a Joint Venture Company (JVC), which was earlier coming in the way of receipt of payment from Haryana by Punjab, is also likely to be expedited with PricewaterhouseCoopers set to present a final draft of the proposed JVC to the tripartite committee consisting of members from Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh next week. The consultants had given their first presentation on the likely shape of the JVC to the committee around 10 days back.

Punjab civil aviation secretary Visvajit Khanna confirmed that a cheque for Rs 230.43 crore had been received from the Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) on behalf of Haryana.

This represents Haryana’s 50 per cent share in the Rs 460 crore odd spent by the Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GAMADA) to acquire land for the project at Mohali on behalf of Punjab.

Earlier the airport project had hit a roadblock for a few months due to an ambiguity as how Punjab should be compensated for acquiring land for the project by Haryana. Even though the Punjab government presented a bill to Haryana to make an immediate payment, the latter expressed its inability to pay any money to Punjab till a JVC was signed between the three partners - Punjab, Haryana and the AAI. The issue, however, was resolved following meetings of all three partners that led to the formation of a tripartite committee. Haryana agreed to pay up its share in anticipation of the formation of the JVC.

The Punjab government has earmarked Rs 300 crore for various municipal committees and nagar panchayats. Referring to the re-organisation of the blocks and tehsils in the state, Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal further stated that all the 141 blocks, 77 tehsils and 76 sub-tehsils would be revamped to ensure a balanced growth in the new model of rural development.

The chief minister also announced that the state government had taken in-principle decision to develop Attari in the border district of Amritsar as a new block. He said that the funds to the tune of Rs 300 crore approximately would be given to the 128 municipal committees and nagar panchayats within 15 days to undertake various development schemes in order to upgrade existing infrastructure of street lighting, tubewells and roads.

He said that 26 municipalities under category-I would be provided Rs 3 crore each, while 41 and 27 municipalities under category-II & III would be given Rs 2 crore and Rs 1 crore, respectively. Besides, Rs 1 crore would be spent each to 34 nagar panchayats for the execution of development activities.

This apart, the Housing & Urban Development Corporation (HUDCO) had sanctioned a loan of Rs 500 crore for water supply, sewerage and sewerage treatment plants in the rural segment of the state, Badal pointed out.

The state government had already sanctioned funds worth Rs 850 crore for water supply, sewerage, sewerage treatment plants and other schemes like slum development. Referring to the allocation of the Rural Development Fund, the chief minister said that Rs 4 crore each would be disbursed in each assembly constituency, thereby totaling to Rs 334 crore.

He also mentioned that 9,100 kms of link roads had been repaired at a cost of Rs 876 crore and 1,700 km of new roads with 20 km each in every assembly constituency worth Rs 300 crore had been laid down during the current year.

LUDHIANA: Electricity poles on roads will no more hamper the smooth flow of traffic. For, the municipal corporation has decided to pay Rs 50 lakh to Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) for shifting these. The authorities have conducted a survey to identify electricity poles, telecom poles and trees standing on roads.

The survey showed that there are about 2,000 electricity poles, 332 poles of telecom department and 340 trees that are obstructing vehicular movement in various parts of the city. Now, MC has asked the electricity department to prepare estimates for shifting of electricity poles. It has also prepared a resolution of Rs 50 lakh, which will be presented before the finance and contract committee (F&CC). After getting its nod, the authorities will pay the amount to the department. If the amount exhausts while carrying out the work, the department can seek more money from MC.

Besides, the civic body has written a letter to the forest department to remove trees standing on roads. Work of shifting telecom poles has already started.

Superintending engineer of light section SP Singh said they have prepared a resolution to pay Rs 50 lakh to the electricity department to shift poles. ''To remove obstacles standing in the way of traffic flow, we conducted the survey and thereafter, consulted electricity, telecom and forest departments for cooperation,'' he added.

In February 2008, the electricity department had announced that these poles would be removed, but later, it forgot to ensure it. The poles, which have been identified on priority basis, are mostly in old parts of the city, like on division number three road and near CMC chowk. Some new parts of the city, including Rajpura Road, Gill Road and adjoining parts, too, have these.